


Hunters with rotten skin

by ChibiArthur



Category: CROSS GENE
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 06:36:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6068965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiArthur/pseuds/ChibiArthur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn't supposed to be like this. This nightmare... not all of them will awaken from it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Yongseok bashed in a skull of another zombie with his baseball bat, sending blood and grey matter spattering everywhere. He saw a small crack forming on the weapon he held and scoffed. They needed something better to defend themselves with.

He took a quick look around, checking up on the others. Casper was swinging a crowbar with one hand at every hostile in his range, unfazed by the weight of the metal object. Sangmin actually looked like he was having fun landing heavy kicks and quick punches. He stuck close to Casper however, in case he happened to need help from someone with a weapon. Seyoung pelted the undead with stones, his strikes precise and deadly. It baffled Yongseok how the blonde man was so calm and could defend himself with everything from pebbles to mannequin limbs. Shin's battle cry diverted Yongseok's attention from Seyoung. The raven haired man was charging at a zombie with a thick branch in hand, ready to send every undead back to the grave. His moves looked as if he had learned them from video games.

Suddenly, Yongseok could hear grunting close by. He whirled around and was met with a rotting face only an arm's length away. He instinctively took a step back but his foot got caught on a zombie he killed a few moments ago. He fell, his baseball bat knocked out of his hand from the impact. The zombie was closing in at a rapid speed. It was foaming at the mouth and had oozing blisters all over its face. Only the clothes it was wearing and its long, thin hair suggested that it was a woman at some point. Yongseok rolled to the side, barely avoiding the zombie's blow. He reached for his baseball bat but before he could swing it and defend himself, his muscles cramped making him drop the weapon involuntarily. He swore, holding his arm in pain. It seemed like this will be the end of his journey.

Just when the undead was about to pounce on him, a wooden sword with a chipped tip lodged itself in the zombie's throat. Black blood erupted from the gaping wound when the sword was removed. Yongseok looked up to see Takuya. The Japanese man brushed the hair out of his face, smearing it unintentionally with blood. He looked savagely beautiful and out of place.

"are you okay?"

Yongseok accepted the offered hand and was pulled on his feet. He picked up his fallen bat, shooting the older a smile.

"never better"

The sounds of fighting slowly vanished, indicating that they got rid of their attackers. Takuya and Yongseok made their way to the four other men. Seyoung checked everyone's condition and the state of their weapons.

"we should stock up on food and find some guns" he said, picking up a sports bag which he dropped when the zombies attacked "firearms should be at a police station or a hunting shop so I suggest going there first"

No one disagreed with Seyoung's proposal for he always made the right decisions. They managed to survive a month in this hell thanks to his leadership and everyone was extremely grateful.

"let's go"


	2. 1/?

**Two weeks before The Infection**

Six young men were sitting in the park, each on his own motorcycle. They were clad in black from head to toe, scaring those of weak hearts with their leather pants and studded jackets. The tallest man sighed when another pretty girl ran away after he smiled at her, sadly kicking a pebble and hitting one of the motorcycles with it.

"Waaah!" a black haired man screeched and jumped off of his vehicle to rub tenderly at the spot the pebble hit. He blew on and kissed it, murmuring something resembling 'everything will be fine, baby' under his breath. After making sure his motorcycle was in top condition, he sent a dirty look at the man who kicked the stone. "You hurt Elsa" he growled, his tone accusing.

The taller man looked disinterestedly at his complaining friend. "She's fine" he waved his hand dismissively. He saw another girl walking in the distance and smiled at her, flirtatiously brushing his well-cared for hair out of his face, but she turned her head away and sped up. He sighed again. "You guys are scaring the ladies away"

"Pretty sure you're the one with the worst reputation in our little group of misfits though, Taku" the red haired man laughed. He was lying comfortably on his motorcycle, smoking a cigarette. He looked like the devil himself decided to ascend on Earth and possess a handsome adolescent. The man called Taku kicked him off of the vehicle, obviously enjoying the noise the redhead's face made when it collided with the ground.

Another black haired man giggled and started poking the fallen man. "The sound your face made was sick!" he exclaimed, erupting in another fit of giggles. The redhead groaned and didn't even attempt to get up.

"I told you that lying on motorcycles in the vicinity of Takuya's legs is dangerous, Yongseok ah" the only blonde in the group said. Yongseok flipped him off, slowly getting up, at which the blonde smiled wearily. He looked like someone who got used to his good advice being either shot down or ignored.

"Guys" Takuya spoke up suddenly. "We need to soften our image"

"That's what I've been saying for quite a while now" the blonde man piped in but was ignored.

"We could stop robbing people"

"I've been saying that for a while too..."

Yet again ignoring his friend, the tallest man continued. "We could start a band or something"

This time the blonde didn't object, he just sighed and shook his head. The man with a mohawk, the most muscular of the six, sent him a pitying look and patted his shoulder awkwardly.

"You!" Takuya, pointed at the blonde and the redhead. "You guys don't sing half-bad, you could be vocalists" he then looked at the still-giggling raven haired man and the one with a mohawk. "Sangmin, Casper, you can be rappers. And I will obviously be the face of the group" he brushed the fringe out of his eyes. "Okay, now that we have the roles appointed we can start thinking about..."

"Hey!" the man whose motorcycle was called Elsa protested. "What about me?"

The brunette sent him a long, hard look. "You can be the weird one who everybody laughs at"

The black haired man pouted, complaining about Takuya to his motorcycle.

**48 hours before The Infection**

It was around 10pm. In a peaceful-looking district the quiet atmosphere was interrupted by obnoxious engine noises. Five young men rode on their motorcycles, taking up the whole two-way road. They parked their machines in front of a little, brown house. Not caring about possibly waking up people in the neighbourhood, all of them used their horns, making a racket. After a while, a tall, handsome man came out of the house with a female companion. He kissed her passionately and squeezed her bottom before making his way to his friends. Four of them were watching the whole display with amusement, the fifth one, however, rolled his eyes in annoyance and scoffed.

"It's only been a few days since we started performing in that rundown club yet he managed to bang more girls than I have fingers"

"Stop being a jealous man child, Yongseok" Takuya smirked and the redhead growled. "And how many times do I have to tell you guys NOT to park on the lawn? Grandma will talk my ear off again" grumbling, he got on his own motorcycle and revved up the engine. "Anyways, let's get going. I'm curious about this guy who decided to produce us"

"I still think it's a bad idea..." the blonde sighed but was ignored, as per usual. Sighing once more, he put on his helmet and rode behind his friends.

After 20 minutes the group of friends arrived at their destination. It was a big mansion, with gargoyles decorating the roof. There was not even one window lit from the inside, indicating that nobody was home. Somewhere in the distance a police siren could be heard.

"Yeah, not suspicious at all" the blonde muttered under his breath.

"Seyoung, you're so boring" accused Yongseok. "Maybe there are a bunch of windows lit up on the other side?" with that said, the six men went up the stairs leading to the straight-out-of-a-gothic-story mansion.

They rang the doorbell and waited a bit. When no one opened the door, the shorter of the two black haired men tried the doorknob.

"Sangmin, what the fu..." the other raven haired man trailed off when the door swung open effortlessly. Sangmin sent him a disarming smile.

"It's okay Shin hyung, if there was no one home, the door would've been locked!"

The police siren they heard earlier seemed to get closer. The six men grew anxious at the sound. Even though they stopped robbing people they preferred to stay out of policemen's line of sight for as long as possible. Takuya ushered everyone inside the house and closed the door behind them. It was pitch black and eerily silent.

"Ugh, fuck, what's this smell?"

"I don't know, smells like something crawled up and died here, it's suffocating!"

"Shut up and help me find the damned light switch!"

There was some shuffling as everyone started feeling around for a switch. After a while, a loud click could be heard, along with a swishing sound. The hall they were in lit up with a blinding light that caused the men to close their eyes. Just two seconds after that, there was a splash of some liquid and a metallic thud.

"Eeeeek!" the one called Shin screamed "I just felt something land on my face, can someone check what it is, I can't open my eyes, it's too bright!"

"Even if you could open your eyes you wouldn't be able to see your fac—OH MY FUCKING GOD!"

"Seyoung just cursed? What ha—JESUS!"

One by one the men were opening their eyes, getting a full view of the scene before them. A pile of mutilated corpses was lying a few metres away, severed limbs were dangling from the ceiling and the whole corridor was splattered with blood. Too shocked to do anything, they just stared. Only when Shin's legs gave out from under him, did the men snap out of their trance.

"Get up, we need to run the fuck away before the psycho who did this comes back!" the man with a mohawk pulled his friend up and then froze. "Wonho, you're covered in blood"

"You too, Casper hyung" said Sangmin with a shaking voice.

"All of us are. It must've happened when we turned on the lights" the blonde took a quick look around and noticed a knocked over bucket. Remnants of blood were slowly trickling out of it. There was a tripwire attached to the light switch which snapped when the light was turned on. This in turn, made the bucket fall down from under the ceiling and splash blood all over the six men. "It was a trap"

Just when Seyoung said it, the entrance burst open and policemen flooded the hallway. The group of friends was violently cuffed and led out of the mansion, towards the police van.

**37 hours before The Infection**

"For the millionth time, they were already dead when we came into the house!" frustrated, Yongseok brushed his fringe out of his hair. He was testifying for the fifth time and it drained him of the little patience he had. "You should check this guy that wanted us to come to that mansion!"

"We already did. A person by the name written on the business card found in your friend's pocket doesn't exist"

"Well, we didn't hallucinate the guy! You're harassing innocent citizens here and let that psycho walk free!"

The policeman looked at him with cold eyes, making it obvious with his body language that he didn't believe in even one word the redhead said. He leaned forward, speaking to Yongseok slowly, as if addressing a mentally challenged child.

"Or you just printed this business card to have some kind of alibi in case you were caught"

The red haired man groaned, resting his forehead on the table. He hoped the rest were faring better than him.

**21 hours before The Infection**

The six men were finally reunited in a cell. They were all sitting on a long bench, exhausted after so many hours of questioning and fruitless attempts at proving their innocence, not to mention not being able to sleep for more than 30 hours. This coupled with shock of seeing dead bodies and stressing about their future made them look like empty shells. They couldn't close their eyes without flashbacks of the mutilated corpses coming at them. The only semi-positive thing was the fact that they could take a shower and change into clothes that weren't stained with blood – prison uniforms.

"Orange doesn't suit me" muttered Takuya, trying to lighten the mood somehow, unsuccessfully.

"I told you guys it was a bad idea"

This time no one dared to disagree. They all regretted not listening to Seyoung.

**1 hour after The Infection**

Casper woke up suddenly, due to a nightmare he had. He looked around. To his right, Sangmin was resting his head on Shin's shoulder. Takuya was curled up in a ball awkwardly, using Yongseok's lap as a pillow. He was definitely too tall to fit comfortably on the narrow bench in this position. The redhead had his arms crossed against his chest, head leaning slightly to the side. They were all asleep but, deducing from their expressions, their dreams were full of disturbing images.

When Casper looked to his left, he expected Seyoung to be asleep too. He almost got a heart attack though, when he found the older man staring back at him.

"Jesus, man, don't scare me like that" the man with a mohawk clutched his chest and Seyoung chuckled. The sound felt foreign to Casper, it seemed like they haven't smiled in ages, let alone laughed. It disappeared soon though, the blonde turned his attention to the two guards outside.

"Look at them" Seyoung whispered, his expression serious.

Casper let his gaze fall on the two guards just outside the cell. They were arguing about something in hushed voices. He couldn't hear a thing of what was being said but whatever it was it made the guards tense. After a while a third man came up to them.

"Stop gossiping you old hags and get back to work!"

The two guards saluted and scrambled each in different direction. The third man's gaze landed on Seyoung and Casper.

"What are you staring at, you psychos? Do you want me to take your eyeballs out?"

They shuddered at the thought and closed their eyes, pretending to be asleep. The guard scoffed, walking away afterwards. Only when his footsteps couldn't be heard anymore, did the two friends open their eyes.

"They've been acting like that for a while now. Since about an hour ago everyone is on edge. I wonder what's up"

"Maybe they will be moving some convicts to another prison? It seems to be a big deal when they talk about it on TV"

Seyoung pondered over what Casper said for a while. Then he shook his head slowly. "I don't think so. If they were moving someone, we'd know about it. Whatever it is that makes the guards restless is kept under wraps. I think only the higher-ups know what's really happening" he looked at the man with a mohawk. "Let's sleep for now, something tells me we will need as much energy as we can get"

**10 hours after The Infection**

A blaring alarm woke up the six sleeping men. Yongseok stood up, looking around frantically and accidentally making Takuya fall off of the bench in the process. The tallest man's curses were drown out by the sound of all the cell doors opening and prisoners running out, whooping with delight that they were finally free. The whole prison was lit up with warning red lights, indicating a system malfunction.

Takuya got up and moved towards the bars cautiously. Their cell was open too. He saw prisoners fighting with guards outside. The guards had no chance, they were heavily outnumbered. Even though the prisoners had no weapons, their brutality, hatred and pent-up frustration gave them enough strength to overpower the ones that held them captive. The brunette was about to go back to his friends and report the situation when suddenly three prisoners appeared before him out of nowhere.

"I like this one" the tallest of the three grabbed Takuya by the chin roughly and pulled him closer. He was around two centimetres taller and had a grotesque smirk plastered on his face. Takuya met his gaze without as much as a blink. He wasn't worried in the least.

"He thinks he's so tough! Let's soften him up a bit!" another man wrapped his arms around the first one's waist and giggled maniacally. "We're gonna have so much fun!"

The one holding Takuya's jaw swung his other hand, intending to punch him in the stomach. The brunette caught his fist in both palms, stopping it before it reached the target. Takuya's oppressor narrowed his eyes in anger and tightened his grip on the brunette's chin. He was preparing for a second strike.

"Leave him, James" the third prisoner's authoritative voice stopped the tallest one from hitting Takuya, he didn't let go of him though.

"But why Moon hyung?" the second one asked, clearly upset.

"That's one of the Mansion Killers. We're not dealing with psychos" with that said, he turned on his heel and walked away, not waiting for his two companions.

Upon hearing these words, James let go of Takuya as if burned. He muttered a few profanities under his breath and hurried after Moon, dragging the confused second man behind.

"That went well" the brunette approached his five friends who were still sitting on a bench. "The prisoners think we're behind the massacre in that creepy mansion. I don't know about you guys but if it will keep them off of our backs, I can even be a prima ballerina"

Sangmin and Yongseok laughed, mental image of Takuya in a tutu being too much. They started imitating ballerina poses while avoiding the tall man's punches and kicks. Seyoung smiled to himself, hearing his friends' laugh for the first time since some 58 hours ago felt refreshing. Their laugh was terribly out of place, in a prison full of escaped convicts, with flashing red lights and an alarm blaring throughout the whole building.

And screams.

But not elated whoops of prisoners who just got out of their cells, no. These were shouts of anguish, indescribable pain and fear. Seyoung got up from the bench quickly, Casper immediately following. It seemed that he too noticed that something somewhere went horribly wrong. The both of them went out of the cell, unnoticed by their friends. They saw a few dead guards near the entrance to another section, trampled by dozens of detainees. Screams seemed to come from this adjoining section so the blonde and his friend approached the entrance to investigate. What they saw made their blood run cold.

People with ashen skin, torn clothes and what looked like fatal wounds were biting the prisoners and the guards alike, sometimes tearing out a limb or two. These creatures were of various gender, race and age – even a few children could be seen among them. All of them, however, had one common feature, they had icy blue eyes that glowed in the dark-red light. Casper and Seyoung took a few steps back, away from the creatures' line of view. That's when they heard a scream behind them, an awfully familiar one at that.

Turning around, they saw one of the creatures making its way towards a petrified Shin. Seyoung acted without thinking, he grabbed the first thing he could reach – which happened to be a flashlight belonging to one of the dead guards – and threw it at the back of the creature's head. Taking advantage of the brief moment of confusion, Sangmin kicked the creature as hard as he could, making it fall on the ground, right in front of Casper. The man with a mohawk stepped on the creature's head, breaking its skull and successfully killing it.

The group of friends stared at each other in complete shock for a while, none of them could believe the nightmare they found themselves in.

"Okay, what the actual fuck? Zombies? Is this supposed to be a joke?" Yongseok finally said.

"Joke or not, we need to get out of here. Is there another exit? The one behind us is full of these creatures"

All of them started looking around for ways to escape the prison. Sangmin spotted a corridor between two cells and quickly pointed it out to the others. They all went in that direction, Seyoung taking the lead and Casper securing the back. The corridor seemed safe so they kept on walking till they reached tall but narrow steel door. Seyoung tried the knob but the door remained closed. He couldn't see a lock anywhere so it meant that there was either something blocking the door from the other side or that they're just jammed. The blonde called Casper to help him. He stepped away from the door as the muscular man approached, to make room. The man with a mohawk pressed the knob down and slammed his shoulder against the door. They opened slightly, making loud scratching noise. With one more push the door gave way. The group of friends found themselves in an underground garage. It was empty, save for two cars – one was a small and sleek black Honda, the other an old, worn down pickup.

"I vote we leave Takuya behind and take the Honda" was the first thing Yongseok said, earning himself a whack upside the head from the brunette.

"We're not leaving anyone behind" Seyoung sighed. "Shin, go get the truck"

The black haired man nodded and crossed the garage in a few steps. He took a pin out of his hair, surprising his friends. During all this time they didn't realise he had it on him. Seeing their shocked expressions, Shin smirked. Even though they decided to stop committing crimes, he always kept a hairpin with him. He missed the thrill that stealing cars gave him.

After some time of fiddling with the lock, the car door popped open and Shin slipped inside. There was a lock on the steering wheel so he pulled the wheel from side to side as hard as he could, breaking the lock. Giving the shift lever a sharp yank, he broke its locking system. Shin found a screwdriver in the glove compartment. He pushed it into the ignition, turned and the car started.

"Good thing it doesn't have immobilisers!" Sangmin said while climbing into the backseat.

"Who do you take me for?" Shin scoffed. "I can deal with those too, no problem"

Once everyone was in the car, Shin drove out of the garage. It was a mess outside. The streets were crawling with the undead and as soon as the truck was in their sight, the creatures rushed to attack. Shin accelerated, running over the zombies. However, at some point there was too many of them and the car slowed down to almost a stop.

"Come on!" the raven haired man shouted at the vehicle, a sickening sound of bones being crushed under the wheels could be heard.

"Reverse, stupid!" Takuya exclaimed while nervously looking out of the window. Suddenly, a zombie banged on the window he was looking through. It was the tall man who harassed him earlier, James or whatever he was called. Takuya flinched when the creature smirked at him, its teeth and gums showing through a gaping hole in its cheek. Another bang and the window cracked a little. "Shin, hurry the fuck up!"

The car screeched loudly as it was put into reverse, the sharp movement jolting everyone inside. Shin made a 360 spin, knocking back nearby zombies, and drove away. Only after a few minutes of driving did the six men found themselves in a zombie-less neighbourhood. It was eerily quiet, not a soul in sight. Some of the houses were wide open, abandoned in a hurry. There were also bloodstains, indicating that not everyone was lucky enough to escape before the undead horde.

They stopped before one of the little houses, one which front door weren't bloodied. Cautiously, the men made their way inside, finding it devoid of both zombies and people. Their adrenaline levels dropped after confirming that they found a safe place at last. Wordlessly, Yongseok went into the kitchen and started preparing a meal.

"There's enough food for a day or two" the redhead stated. "You guys go rest or something, I'll call you when I'm done"

"I'm calling dibs on the shower!" and before anyone could protest, Takuya had already locked himself in the bathroom.


End file.
